Ps 35/5 
/9g& 




Pfl^ma 



Sn 








Popt CaurpaJp of 5Frprma0anrg 



Digitized by tlie Internet Arciiive 
in 2011 witii funding from 
Tlie Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/poems01hemp 




POET LAUREATE OF FREEMASONRY 



POEMS 



BY 



FAY HEMPSTEAD 



Poet Laureate of Freemasonry 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Copies Received 

DEC 29 1908 

,fV Copyrlirnt Entry ^ 

CLASS OL XXc No. 
COPY I. ^ 



Copyright 1908 

by 

FAY HEMPSTEAD. 



T 5 -^ S\C 



Poem at Laureation 
Chicago 
'^Laurel Crown that Camest to Me'* 



>'.^'i^ 





Poem at Laureation 



TRIKE hands with me, O Brethren mine; 
And hear me, each, with hand in thine, 
I If yet that grace reside in me. 
Make promise for the time to be. 

If that the Muse, of measure true. 
Doth not, in listless fashion, through 
The slow decease of high desire. 
Sit silent by a faded fire; 
If yet there comes, in finer hour. 
Some lingerings of that Spirit*s power, 
That creeps within the inner soul. 
Her gems of beauty to unroll; 
O, then, I trust, if even slight. 
Some ray of that ungoverned light, 
Upon my waiting soul may stream. 
And light it with her clearest beam; 
May wake to life this feeble tongue. 
To sing deep lays, as yet unsung; 
Then would my Spirit joy amain. 
As thirsting plants drink grateful rain. 



If so, O then, I dedicate 
Whatever strength that, soon or late. 
May come to me, to this fair Cause, 
Wrought otrt through scope of higher laws; 
That all that beareth Beauty's name. 
Be hailed with welcome and acclaim; 
The Good be ever forward set: 
The cause of Truth be stronger yet. 

So may it be. That grace abide 
In gentle measure by my side. 
God grant my life, imperfect here. 
Some essence from that higher sphere. 



Octobers, J 908. 







^ 


<\) 


>. 


r 


cd 




^ 


ft) 


_;i: 


_c 


«t 


c3 


^ 


^ 


V 




r 


-o 




c_ 


■>> 


< 


CQ 




Chicago 

ITY by the inland sea, 
Fair thy borders seem to me; 
As memory, backward taming, gleans 

A fr«itf«I harvest from thy scenes. 

Long hath my vision wandered through 

Yon water's trembling fields of bitte; 

And watched the feathered waves that break 

By the walk-way, wrested from the lake. 

Fair lie thy terraced hillocks, hard 

By miles of level boulevard; 

Where scarce for speed mine eyes descry 

The forms that flit like arrows by. 

Ah me! The Parks, with verdure strewn; 

The lawns of velvet, smoothly mown; 

The trees, with branching arms outspread. 

With long leaves quivering overhead; 

The statued forms, that lordly stand; 

The buds; the blooms, on every hand; 

The Palaces, with gardens fair; 

The towering structures, high in air; 

The long streets, stolen from the Night, 

With the dazzling glow of their changing light; 

All these come back, and more unnamed. 

Like a pleasing picture, golden-framed. 



But yet, Qtyt more than this. 

Aye, more than all thy splendor is, 

I hold that high fraternal care, 

That fills the breasts of the brethren there. 

The kindly word, the grasp of hand; 

The thrill that the soul can understand. 

Fiill well I know, O Brethren, ye 

Gave a brother's greeting unto me; 

In words whose kind uplifting cheers 

My heart through the waste of the fleeting years; 

In deeds of which the sweetness folds 

Over all for me that the Future holds. 

City by the inland Sea, 

Ever will I cherish thee. 

As the homestead of Fraternity. 

And long may this gentle spirit grace 
The Craft in each abiding -place ; 
And Joy bestow on all her crown. 
To last as long as the stars shine down. 

October 21, 1908 




\.*^ 



I, 









The statued forms that lordly stand 



^ 




** Laurel Crown that Camest to Me" 

AUREL crown that camest to me, 
As least among the favored three; 
Look down the while my soul receives 

The lesson of thy gleaming leaves. 

What counsel dost thou bring to me, 

Thoti emblem of Eternity; 

In that tho«, circle-wise, doth bend, 

With not beginning, nor with end? 

A charge, with deepest meaning fraught, 

Is in thy twisted branches taught 

In that thou standest unto me 

As the voice of a great Fraternity; 

A voice that spake from shore to shore; 

And by the message that it bore, 

Hath made me debtor, evermore* 

But deeper yet thy worth shall be, 

O circlet fair, if unto me 

Thou bringest back, through kinder ways, 

The Summer warmth of earlier days; 

Of days when Life was fresh, and through 

It's varied changes Pleasure drew; 



When Fancy, wakened, wandered far; 

And Hope shone like a rising star; 

When Nature gave, in accent fine, 

Her solace in the sighing pine; 

When Autttmn held her riches spread 

In oaken branches, splotched with red; 

Days when, ttnvexed with passing harm. 

Each hour was bright, and brought it's charm; 

Days lying in a fairy land. 

When Youth and Warmth went hand in hand. 

Nay, nay. Thou can'st not. Nor can*st bring 

To Autumn's chill the flush of Spring. 

Thy power to do is dwarfed and strait. 

The Past is past, and sealed of Fate. 

I can but turn mine eyes to rest 

On yon light, fading in the West; 

And see, below the purpling skies. 

It's glow die out, no more to rise. 

Stead me, laurel crown, to be 

Strong and loyal unto thee. 

And lift me, by some potent spell, 

To heights wherein the Muses dwell; 

That there some sacred spark may roll, 

Like lightning-flash upon my soul; 



And wake some b«rst of melody. 
To make its way from sea to sea; 
Like wind-blown seeds to find a place 
To grow in vigor and in grace* 

Laurel crown, henceforward be 
G«ide and guerdon ttnto me# 



November I, 1908. 





^m^- 



t^ 







X.»■^ 




Jewel of 33° presented to Fay Hempstead by the Scottish Kite 
Bodies of the Valley of Little Rock, commemorating his 
Coronation as Poet Laureate of Freemasonry. Oct. 21st, 1908 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

I iiini Hill nil Hill Hill mil Hill mil iiiii iiiii iiiii iiii iiii 







II 

021 929 846 8 % 



